At the end of May, Peace Now reported that 30,000 Israelis (above) raised their voices against 50 years of occupation and in support of a two state solution.

Peace Now is a movement of Jewish and Arab Israeli citizens who see the pursuit of peace, compromise and reconciliation with the Palestinians on the one hand and with the Arab states on the other, as necessary to guarantee Israel’s future security and its identity as a state.

30,000 Jews and Arabs, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, old and young, arrived from all across Israel to show that many support a two state solution, oppose the government’s policies and seek to end the occupation, which is hurting Palestinians and deteriorating Israel’s democracy.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in Jewish-only colonies, which are deemed illegal by international law, throughout occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.

However, two months later, there was an incident at Abu Rajabs’ family home, in the southern occupied West Bank, raising tensions in the city. The clearest account is given by IMEMC News here.

In 2012, Israeli settler colonizers took over the top two floors of the home, forcing the Abu Rajab family to huddle into the lowest level of their home. The home has been the subject of a long-standing legal case, with settlers claiming that they legally purchased the property. The Abu Rajab family rejects that claim, and Israel’s civil administration has said the settlers have been unable to provide proof of that purchase.

Since that time, the Abu Rajab family has been continually harassed, including having their entrance and exit to the home blocked, being beaten and threatened, having soldiers occupy their home and assist the settler colonizers in their takeover, and having one of the sons of the Abu Rajab family abducted and put into prison without charge for years. Throughout 2015, Israeli settlers camped outside the home for months, harassing the Abu Rajab family and preventing them from leaving.

This video shows one altercation, but it is unclear what is happening. The most disturbunig shots were of a large crowd of y oung israels repeatedly calpp9ng and cheering..

IMEMC News reports that the family had filed six different complaints with the Israeli court system, which eventually ruled in their favour and ordered the settlers to evacuate.

As a Palestinian living in the West Bank, Mousa Maria has no legal right to vote in Israeli elections this week, but thanks to this campaign an Israeli voter, Shahaf Weisbein, will be casting a ballot for him for the Arab-Israeli party Balad. Shimri Zameret, a 28-year-old Israeli activist who helped Maria to set up the initiative, is donating his vote to a 19-year-old Palestinian.

Its candidate, Hanin Zoabi,the first Arab Israeli woman to be elected to the Israeli legislative body on an Arab party’s list,faced attempts to disqualify her from the Knesset last month: “The Israelis tried to stop her from being a member of the Knesset and I think that she needs support, and if she knows that some Palestinians support her too it will make her feel stronger,” Mousa Maria told AFP.

They are challenging a system they see as undemocratic: “The Israeli government rules the citizens of Palestine, but is not elected by them. That’s undemocratic. Democracy means rule by and for the people.”

Shimri Zameret hopes the initiative can draw attention to what he calls a lack of democracy at the United Nations, calling for reform of veto powers and a reorganisation of the body along the lines of the European Union, including representation for opposition parties, as in the EU.

Many Arab residents of Israel — Palestinians who stayed in what became Israel after 1948, and their descendants — who do not generally vote are being urged by Mousa Maria to do so and win a ‘space in the government’, get a better chance to do something, or at least have a voice.

West Midlands MEP Phil Bennion presents news of a strongly-worded cross-party resolution ‘brokered’ on Israeli settlements in the West Bank and adopted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg last Thursday.

The resolution warns of the dangers of new and expanded Israeli settlements, which carve the remainder of the Palestinian territory in two, making a two state solution less likely. It addresses some Hamas statements and calls for Palestinian reconciliation.

MEPs also criticised other policies including:

the Israeli government’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority,

and the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which creates hostility and misery among the Palestinian people with no practical benefit to Israel.

Phil Bennion said: ” . . . the European Parliament has managed to agree a statement which sends out a clear message to both sides that we want a meaningful peace process to be launched.

“However I worry that these words may continue to fall on deaf ears. The EU must continue to apply pressure on all parties in the region to work towards a negotiated and amicable peace deal ensuring a secure state of Israel and a viable state of Palestine.

“The EU as a key aid donor to the Palestinians and a major trade partner with Israel has real economic leverage over both sides.

“I urge our leaders to start using this leverage to ensure all sides commit to meaningful dialogue and to an immediate end to provocative and destructive policies in the region.”